Chess players are like children," as Lajos Portisch once said. "They spend all their lives playing games." He is right, but perhaps that is no bad thing. At least chess is harmless. The real world is different. For the past few weeks Israel has been bombing Lebanon to smithereens. Of course, no one likes to be provoked. Aggressive counter-attack doubtless felt very tempting to the Israeli strategists. But before embarking upon a committal course, one does well to consider the likely consequences. To this observer - no military expert, just a player of war games - the Israeli bombings have been myopic and self-defeating.

Scotsman Jonathan Rowson has won the Smith and Williamson British Chess Championship for the third successive time. Scottish/Georgian lassie, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, took the women's trophy, impressively finishing outright second - the best result ever by a woman in the competition.

It would be nice if Jonathan and I could play on the same national team one day, but I doubt whether it will happen soon. In football, the UK cheats by having four teams: in chess, we cheat by having five. History and an unwillingness to disturb the status quo are the main reasons for this. Clearly, most people can tolerate a large dose of illogicality and inconsistency.

As well as his practical skills, Jonathan is a respected chess author and writes an excellent column in New in Chess magazine. He combines a scholarly erudition with originality of thinking, which invariably makes for good reading. His path to the crown in Swansea was ensured by four consecutive victories at the end. His last-round defeat of grandmaster Jonathan Parker was as good as any.